I couldn't imagine the mess on the right side of the a/c, in terms of servicing.

Most aircraft fuel on the right side (save for the 767 and 777, etc), and all of their cargo bin doors are on the right- and oftentimes the catering is there too. Imagine having a jetway, fuel truck, k-loader, belt loader, and several tugs/trailers servicing one side of the aircraft. Heck, it gets busy on the right side as it is.

DeltaGuy

"The cockpit, what is it?" "It's the little room in the front of the plane where the pilot sits, but that's not importan

Quoting TristarSteve (Reply 9):The BEA Comet 4B that I flew from ORY to LHR on in 1969 had the main passenger door on the right hand side. The L1 door was a small servicing door. No good for jetways, but there weren't any then!

The doors on the AC Right on the A320, B733,734,738 and B752 are all a bit smaller than those on the left. I should know, when I first started flying I would always hurt my head on leaning out of the RHS doors - took me most of a summer to remember to duck.

As everyone has already pointed out the servicing takes place on the right, and if you used steps instad of an airbridge to load on AC Right then there would be no space to do anything, especially on the 737.

Wasn't it the SUD Carvelle? that normally boarded from the right?

There is a shot of some SAA 747s with steps on the RHS taken on a refulling stop somewhere on the Database.

Phil
FlyingColours

Lifes a train racing towards you, now you can either run away or grab a chair & a beer and watch it come - Phil

Quoting WexCan (Reply 12):Are you sure about the A320? I fly on A319s as cabin crew and the L and R doors all look the same size...

I can't remember now (since I've not flown since the end of October - damned seasonal contracts), but I think the R doors are slightly smaller, but I guess you would fly on that type more than me I would only get one A320 trip a month with about 13 757 trips

It should be intresting to note however that on the 752 the doors at L3 & R3 are the same size (since they are both emergency use only doors), and R1 is the smallest door on the aircraft (its also the nastiest to open).

Phil
FlyingColours

Lifes a train racing towards you, now you can either run away or grab a chair & a beer and watch it come - Phil

Quoting FlyingColours (Reply 14):I can't remember now (since I've not flown since the end of October - damned seasonal contracts), but I think the R doors are slightly smaller, but I guess you would fly on that type more than me I would only get one A320 trip a month with about 13 757 trips

From what I can see they're the same - we use 1R for Ambulifts and 2R for catering and unless they're a little bit smaller in width they're definitely the same height.

3L/R on the 752 are the doors hinged at the bottom aren't they? The ones that "fall out" so to speak? I've heard that the main pax doors on the 75 are quite difficult to open in any case compared to other aircraft - gives me a nice fuzzy feeling having simple doors to operate. Handle goes up, door slides to one side, simple lol.

Right, like I said its been some time since I worked an Airbus. Abilifts would come to R1 and the catering would come to both RH doors.

Yup those 757 doors are hinged on the bottom, nice and simple to operate just lift the handle up and push the door out, the door drops out like a drawbridge. The normal entry service doors are awful (the UK CAA has now officially noted that these doors are overweight and dangerous, however nothing can be done about it). They don't have power assist for during normal ops and they are real hard for anyone to open, especially some of the girls.

I admit, those Airbus doors are great, but they also seem to make new crew nervous (since both the arming lever and door open lever move upward to disarm...).

1R on the 737-400 at least was always a bit tricky because of the curve of the fuselage, or was that 2R? I forget ....

Phil
FlyingColours

Lifes a train racing towards you, now you can either run away or grab a chair & a beer and watch it come - Phil

Quoting FlyingColours (Reply 19):I admit, those Airbus doors are great, but they also seem to make new crew nervous (since both the arming lever and door open lever move upward to disarm...).

Can understand that, but surely new crew should have a bit of sense to work out the arming lever is the small one and the opening lever is the big one? Or that the arming lever is (usually) yellow and the opening lever is (usually) orange.

Quoting WexCan (Reply 21):Can understand that, but surely new crew should have a bit of sense to work out the arming lever is the small one and the opening lever is the big one? Or that the arming lever is (usually) yellow and the opening lever is (usually) orange.

Yeah but over here blowing a slide is the number one fear amongst new crews simply because they would get sacked. Yeah the arming lever is yellow and the opening handle is orange. The arming handle also has a plastic cover over the top and on some airlines birds actually has part of "ARMED" written across it (so when you push it down it makes the word armed on the door).

Mind you I suppose people are just afraid of the Airbus in general, most of the crews I flew with prefered the 757 because it felt tougher (the little bus really creaks and everything). I like it though, Mind you I'd like it if they stuck me on a tri-motor

Phil
FlyingColours

Lifes a train racing towards you, now you can either run away or grab a chair & a beer and watch it come - Phil

I remember my first flight as A319 crew - I'm by no means a nervous flyer but it would have been nice if they told us the doors creaked so much. They did tell us about the "dog barking" sound pre-pushback though which was nice of them - I'd have been on the phone to the FD asap about a poor dog barking otherwise

Quoting WexCan (Reply 23):remember my first flight as A319 crew - I'm by no means a nervous flyer but it would have been nice if they told us the doors creaked so much. They did tell us about the "dog barking" sound pre-pushback though which was nice of them - I'd have been on the phone to the FD asap about a poor dog barking otherwise

Well my first flight as crew we had a full compliment (the 5 + myself and another supernumary), the captain was on a check flight so I couldn't sit in there (there's only 6 jumpseats on the A320), I had to take a passenger seat. As we were heading out to the runway the guy infront of me reclined his seat - he got a shock when I calmly stood up and leaned over the back of his seat to say "could you put your seat back sir?". Anyway I remember the approach into RHO was very windy and I'm sat in an isle seat this time and boy those oveheads shake a lot - still had a laugh chatting to the woman in C.

They never told us about the creaking, shaking or even the PTU but I already knew about that since it comes up here once a month

Phil
FlyingColours

Lifes a train racing towards you, now you can either run away or grab a chair & a beer and watch it come - Phil

I meant All Airlines out here The Rains in BOM can be really bad at Times.

Quoting WNCrew (Reply 20):You are correct, 1R on ALL 737's is hard to close due to the curvature of the fuselage. I almost need to get a "running start" to close the door....I hate when it's left open.

On the Contarary 1L being Bigger is more Heavier than 1R on the B737.
regds
MEL

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 27):How would the Shape differ on the B737,its just the Height.
regds
MEL

The FWD doors of the 737, contrary to what it may seem, do NOT sit exactly across from each other. The R1 door sits further up than the L1 door and is also a little shorter. Because it does sit up further it plays against the curvature of the fuselage when trying to open and close it. It's VERY difficult.

ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.

I have been cabin crew for many years now and I can count the amount of times I have seen pax using doors on the right hand side of the aircraft on two hands – it’s extremely rare!

Quite often different airports will allow or not allow use of door L1 or L2.

On our Boeing 747 aircraft we prefer to use door L2. This door is positioned at the bottom of the stairs leading to the upper deck. While passengers are boarding the cabin crew can direct them in any three directions, left, up or right. This means pax whom are seated in Club have a lot less traffic passing through their area of the cabin. If we use door L1 all but our First pax have to pass through the Club cabin!

At the more modern airports certain stands have double jet ways, which means they can connect doors L1 and L2 at the same time. This system works very well when you have just arrived at a stand and 380 pax want off the aircraft, however during boarding quite often you will still only use door L2 or possibly use door L1 for First pax only.

I always remind my crew at British Airways, outside the aircraft – the left side of the aircraft is ours, the right side is theirs (meaning baggage, servicing etc).

Quoting WNCrew (Reply 28):The FWD doors of the 737, contrary to what it may seem, do NOT sit exactly across from each other. The R1 door sits further up than the L1 door and is also a little shorter. Because it does sit up further it plays against the curvature of the fuselage when trying to open and close it. It's VERY difficult

True.....However its lighter & easier to move according to Me.
regds
MEL